This week I started processing the George Chambers Papers. Chambers (1901-1978) was an amateur historian, business manager for Tucson newspapers, and civic leader. While he was born in Onaga, Kansas, he spent his adult life in Arizona and was the driving force behind many historic preservation projects. These include saving the façade of the original San Agustin Cathedral. He also led the microfilming of El Archivo de Hidalgo del Parral, a collection of colonial era documents.

El Archivo de Hidalgo del Parral microfilm pamphlet.

The first step when processing is to do some preliminary research and then a survey of the collection contents. Lisa introduced me to the control files, which include gift reports and other information from the time a collection is accessioned. Control files, along with accessioning records in ArchivesSpace, give one a sense of what the collection is about and how large it is. When I started surveying, I found myself getting bogged down in the details, but Lisa explained that it should be high-level. As I survey the boxes and get a general sense of the who, what, where, when, etc., I should consider how to organize the materials into series. Upon reviewing two boxes so far, I'm certain that one series will be correspondence. There are nine boxes in total, and the next step will be creating a processing proposal.

Processing seems challenging in many ways. It requires subjective decision-making, is resource-intensive, and often results in backlogs. The Chambers collection was accessioned in 1981, and I am happy to help make it available almost 40 years later. Special Collections has a backlog of approximately 3,000 linear feet, while about 200 linear feet is acquired each year. How do archivists decide what to prioritize? Lisa mentioned that the Columbia University Libraries rating system can help archivists ascertain intellectual value. While I didn't learn about this in class, I did learn about "more product, less process" and look forward to putting parts of MPLP into practice (such as leaving fasteners in).